it seems like several babies are being thrown out with the theoretical bathwater here. the idea of the continuum works, because it starts at a viable point and ended up at an equally viable point (uk garage initially, but now moving thru dubstep, grime and funky).
of course musicians from other disciplines are going to become involved in hardcore musics (take rob haigh, kevin martin etc blah blah blah for example and, i'll agree that there are definitely interesting links between the industrial scene and the rave family tree). however, this is all a bit of a null issue in terms of the broader picture, which is by far the most important picture here.
hell, mj cole is famously "classically trained" (words i hate reading in general) and klute was tommy stupid from the stupids in a former life, but i'm sure we can all agree that the relevance of classical music and skate punk are pretty small fry when considering hardcore musics' overall trajectories (and yes i know tons of rave music sampled classical motifs, but that is not the point i'm making at all).
the continuum has always been about jamaican influences on british music, but that's just because that's the way it's worked out. what's most important about it is they are a family of musics that are connected by history and represent british inner-city experience, especially london experience.
**this** is the point to start debating things with simon, not trashing the whole theory.
funky is totally rude, especially when compared to traditional house music played by that music's gatekeepers (especially the british ones). i mean, come on.. the rhythms are different and the way that it is played is much, much rougher for a start.
the thing is that it's a different kind of rudeness.
it's not specifially jamaican in origin (although definite traces of that exist - wheelbacks, MCing, which is essentially toasting etc). it's far more pluralistic than that, but if anything its an africanised rudeness... look at it like that and funky is definitely still hardcore.
i love this factor of funky, too, and find it by far the most interesting thing about it.
listening to funky and talking to people like MA1 and Apple etc, it's clear that this is a real big step for london street music: the first real representation of african experience.
it's also extremely valid in the sense that it's, as i've said several times before, a reclamation of house itself in the uk — a style of music that, in its mainstream context, became more or less completely divorced from black britain. i mean, look at pictures of, say, fabric up against those circle party pictures and you'll see what i mean immediately.
that's where it becomes worth analysing and disagreeing, because that's the point where we're actually getting somewhere.
*i* think that this is something that simon hasn't fully appreciated thus far, but saying that the whole continuum concept is now bankrupt because of one disagreement is pretty ridiculous. history is never bankrupt, in any context, especially culturally.
also, while i know i'm not a moderator, when discussing the work of people who post here regularly and are members of the community, can we please keep it polite. i've mentioned this before. criticism and debate is good. unpleasant snippiness, like calling people boring and irrelevant, is really not very cool at all.